By Chuck Schilken
Los Angeles Times
Professional driver and TV personality Jessi Combs died in a crash Tuesday while trying to break her own land speed record, according to multiple reports. She was 36.
Combs’ North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger teammate Terry Madden confirmed Wednesday on Instagram that “we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident” and said a “proper release” on Combs’ death would come out later in the day.
“I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her!!” Madden wrote of the crash that occurred around 4 p.m. in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon.
Madden wrote: “I have never loved or been loved by anyone as much as this amazing woman @thejessicombs she was truly my unicorn and I enjoyed every single minute that I had with her. She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know.”
In 2013, Combs became known as “the fastest woman on four wheels” after driving her jet-powered North American Eagle to a speed of 398 mph. According to Popular Mechanics, Combs has hit 483 mph in the same vehicle and was attempting to set a new land speed record at the time of the fatal crash.
In a social media post Saturday, Combs shared a photo of herself walking toward a jet car along with the caption: “It may seem a little crazy to walk directly into the line of fire … those who are willing, are those who achieve great things. People say I’m crazy. I say thank you ;)”
Among the hashtags she included in the post were #iwillgofaster, #gottabreak512, #aimingfor619 and #currentlyat483.
Motorcyle driver Valerie Thompson, known as “the fastest woman on two wheels,” tweeted Wednesday: “This hits home for me. Godspeed, Jessi Combs.”
Combs was born in Rapid City, S.D., and based out of Long Beach, Calif., at the time of her death. She graduated from WyoTech in Laramie, Wyo., with a degree in custom automotive fabrication and later became co-host of “Xtreme 4×4” on Spike TV. She left the show in 2008, soon after suffering a serious spine injury on set, but continued to make appearances on numerous shows, including the Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters.”
“She was a brilliant & top-notch builder, engineer, driver, fabricator, and science communicator, & strove everyday to encourage others by her prodigious example,” former “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage tweeted. “She was also a colleague, and we are lesser for her absence.
